In recent years, the game of golf has attracted millions of golfers throughout the United States and has gained popularity in many foreign countries. The vast majority of these golfers are leisure-time golfers who play the game with insufficient frequency to rapidly improve their scores. However, even the leisure-time golfers consider the game a highly competitive sport and are always looking for ways to easily lower their scores. Improvement generally requires many hours of practice, and few golfers have access to good practice facilities. Practice on a golf course itself is virtually an impossibility because of the crowded conditions of most courses and because of the limited amount of time the average leisure-time golfer has to devote to improving his golf game.
When the foregoing difficulties are coupled with the relatively short outdoor playing season that exists throughout most of the United States, there is a need for any means that will assist the golfer in improving his game through practice. There are available for practice a number of outdoor driving ranges, and indoor practice facilities are becoming increasingly available. Many of the indoor facilities use inexpensive devices and apparatus which in many instances have done little to improve the golfer's game. Also, many prior art devices and apparatus are not satisfactory because they do not simulate sufficient realism so as to enable the golfer to obtain the maximum value from his practice sessions.
Prior art devices and apparatus which are used for indoor golf practice or for "play", allow a golfer to some degree to practice his swing with woods since such facilities normally provide tees to elevate the ball above the artificial surface. However, the prior art devices which are used in indoor facilities require the player to place the ball on a simulated turf, such as a strip of nylon pile carpet, an inverted brush, or a strip of one of the many artificial "grasses", when the player wishes to practice iron shots. If, with this type of simulated turf, the player accidentally strikes the surface behind the ball before the ball is struck, or if the player intentionally "strikes down" at the ball as he might frequently do in actual play to produce greater back spin on the ball, the player is likely either to damage the surface or his elbow, or both. To avoid such damage, the player, therefore, must "scoop" or "sweep" the ball off the artificial simulated turf and thus practice an improper way of executing the golf shot.
There is, therefore, a need for a device which will simulate the fairway surface and thereby enable the golfer to "strike down" at the ball and obtain the "feel" of "taking a chunk of turf" but without damaging the surface. Such a device would be useful in all types of indoor, and even outdoor, practice facilities. One such facility with which the device of the invention can be effectively used is the apparatus shown in my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 752,022, filed Dec. 20, 1976, for a "Golf Game and Practice Apparatus".